ERIC ED045492: Environmental Education. Education that Cannot Wait.

DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 045 492

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NOTE

E nviionmental Education. Education that Cannot. Wait.
cffic rj of Education (DREW), Washington, c.c.

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■(■conservation Education, Ecology, ^Educational
Needs, Environment, ^Environmental Education,
Ethics, Natural Resources, Polluticn, ^Social
responsibility, ^Values
^Environ mental Educaticr. Act

AESTPACT

This pamphlet surveys the whole field of
environmental education. It has been written to describe and clarify
environmental education, in preparation for the reforms called for by
the Environmental Education Act of 1F7C. The environmental crisis is
related to the evolution cf civilization, technology, and
consumerism: definitions, aims, values and principles are given.
Student involvement and a realistic assessment cf the difficulties in
bringing about change ar.d the assuming of personal responsibility are
called for. Part II delimits a large role for education in
environmental improvement and calls fer programs both formal (in
school) and infernal (out of school). These programs should operate
at all levels and use the full range of media. Local, state, and
federal roles are described with a call for multiple funding at
several levels and federal coordination. The ideal is nothing less
than individual environmental awareness, understanding, and
responsibility cn the part cf every citizen. ( N H )

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DUCAT 1 ON THAT CAIINOT WAIT

U S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATION
& WELFARE

OFFICE DF EDUCATION
THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED
EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR
ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT POINTS OF
VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECES-
SARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EOU
CATIDN POSITION OR POLICY

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
OFFICE OF EDUCATION
Washington, D.C. 20202

THE COVER--Title derived from the First
Annual Report of the Council
on Environmental Quality,
August 1970.

ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY*

"The basic causes of our environmental troubles
are complex and deeply imbedded. .

"It should be obvious that we cannot correct such
deep-rooted causes overnight. . ."

"We must seek nothing less than a basic reform in
the way society looks at problems and makes
decisions. . ."

"Our educational system has a key role to play in
bringing about this reform. . ."

"It is also vital that our entire society develop
a new understanding and a new awareness of man ! s
relation to his environment — what might be called
'environmental literacy.' This will require the
development and teaching of environmental concepts
at every point in the educational process."

-- Richard Nixon

President of the United States

* From the President's introduction to the First
Annual Report of the Council on Environmental
Quality, August 1970.

CONTENTS

Part 1

Foundations for Environmental Education

Page

Man and His Environment 5

Overwhelming Technology 7

American Consumerism 7

Environmental Education Defined 9

Aim of EE - 10

EE Values and Principles 11

Preserving Free Choice 13

Student Involvement. 14

Social Realities 16

No "Easy" Solutions 17

Change Agents , * . 18

Consensus in Leadership 20

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Contents (Continued)

Part II

Approaches To Environmental Education

Page.

The Environmental Education Continuum 29

Role of Education in Environmental

Improvement 29

Educational Expectations 30

Programs of Environmental Education .... 31

Environmental Encounters 37

Environmental Curricula 39

Administrative Response to EE 41

Role of State and Federal Agencies 43

The State Commitment to EE 44

School Systems 44

Environmental Actions 45

Multiple Funding 45

National Coordination 46

Part III

Looking To The Future

A National Commitment to Environmental

Education 49

Citizens of the Future 51

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E ARTHMAN SHIP- ST ATESM ANSH I P

President Richard Nixon, on October 30, 1970 signed
the Environmental Education Act* which passed both
houses of the Congress with large majorities*. This
Act gives authority to the Office of Education,

Department of Healthy Education, and Welfare, to
initiate, support, and coordinate a variety of efforts
in environmental education.

The Act reflects a growing awareness of the relation-
ships of man to his environment. Beginning slowly
with the insights of 19th Century naturalists --and
developing rapidly in late years through the vigorous
and widespread efforts of educators and conservationists-
the public is demonstrating a concern for the
environment.

The new national commitment to environmental education,
however, is more than recognizing an existing problem.

It offers a means both to restore the environment and
to live meaningful and ecologically sound lives.

Students, especially now, are finding in environmental
and ecological principles and values the keys to more
satisfying life goals and life styles.

Environmental education itself has received relatively
little attention in the press. For most people, it is
still a hazy concept. The Congress and the President
have described environmental education as "reform" in
American education--a way of achieving quality in
living, and of preserving the quality of our environ-
ment, It is to describe and clarify this concept that
the booklet "Education That Cannot Wait" is published.

* The legislation passed the House 289 to 28, and
the Senate 64 to 0.

Part I

Foundations For Environmental Education

MAN AND HIS ENVIRONMENT

For eons, man was wholly influenced by nature. His
numbers remained small, because food supply was limited
and life was constantly threatened. Yet, man's search-
ing, hunting, and escaping from dangers conditioned
his responses to the environment, and led to his
increasing reliance on thought rather than physical
powers. Then he acquired tools and controlled fire
and began to change the world about him. While his
numbers were still few, his environment was extensive
enough and sufficiently flexible to restore itself
after his passage. To the extent that man was alert
to the requirements of his surroundings, he survived.
When he was careless, or passed up food supplies or
ignored the signs of danger, he died. It was a long
period, this Stone Age, and nature through processes
of selection and survival helped shape the responses
and culture of all human kind.

When man discovered agriculture and gained a relative
abundance of food, he established villages and then
cities. With the beginnings of civilization and the
surplus of food and relative security, man grew in
numbers and influence. The environment felt his
weight. For the first time man began to alter his
environment on a scale that nature could not quickly
restore. This, in turn, had effects upon man which
continue to this day.

Man, formed in ages of intimate contact with nature,
reacted to crowding and stress with the instinctive
aggressiveness of self-preservation. While a thin
veneer of culture and newly-devised values held man-
kind together in what is called civilization, people
continued to exploit their environment land each other
to survive.

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s

Nineveh and Babylon rose to dizzy heights and then fell
into ruins because their inhabitants could not foresee
environmental dangers and act in time to forestall them.
Their life-support systems suffered. This included
dislocations in their society, but principally they
lost their forests from excessive cutting, and ruined
their once productive agricultural lands through
siltation of irrigation systems and accumulation of
salt in fields.

The great centers of Toltec and Mayan civilizations
withered for these or other ecological reasons. The
story was repeated in Africa and Asia, where civili-
zations became unable to function for a variety of
reasons or grew beyond the ability of their environment
to support them. Civilizations have rarely struck a
balance with their environments for more than a brief
period of time.

The lessons of environmental awareness are learned
slowly. In America, our teachers have included Henry
David Thoreau, John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, and Aldo
Leopold. Their message is that the environment is
fragile, our resources are finite. Through our great
numbers and insatiable demands, and with the enormous
power of science and technology, we disrupt the
essential balances and inter-relations on which all
life depends. Black smoke, yellow fumes, and even
invisible poisons have polluted the atmosphere.

Lakes and rivers die from the ecological effects of
phosphates in household wastes and nitrates washed
from the soil. Methyl mercury, an industrial pollut-
ant in rivers and lakes, is poisoning many forms of
life by entering the food chains. We cover the Earth
with concrete and steel. For many millions of people,
living has become mere existence. Many "lesser"
species have become extinct, and mankind may be
racing toward the same fate.

The ultimate issue, especially when considering the
awesome potential of nuclear weapons, is survival.

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First, however, we must learn about our relationships
with nature, our dependence upon environment, the
inevitable effects of our decisions and actions on
vital life-support systems, and the potentials and
flaws of the human species. We must acknowledge and
accept the need for new* attitudes toward the world,
a human phil >sophy of life, and life styles which
improve the quality of life.

OVERWHELMING TECHNOLOGY

Man, despite the advantages and potential of his
science and technology, has all too frequently used
them, through ignorance as well as stupidity, to
reduce the quality of the life-supporting environment.
Today, there are many well known examples of tech-
nological abuses, ranging from the effects of strip
mining in Pennsylvania and West Virginia to the
surprising tenacity and spread of DDT. DDT, princi-
pally used on agricultural land in the United States,
is now found in the tissues of Antarctic penguins and
Arctic snowy owls. The watertable in many areas
continues to fall, not merely from pumping but
because cities and highways divert rain runoff to
the sea. Air pollution over the great urban and
industrial areas of the world jeopardizes life and
threatens long-term climatic change.

Catastrophes greater than these have been projected,
and the possibilities are real. The sobering truth
is; the reactions and interactions of everything
mankind does are great and can never be known fully.

AMERICAN CONSUMERISM

More than two hundred million high-living Americans,
almost six percent of Earth's population, consume
nearly half of the world's harvest of resources. As
a people, Americans consume what is assumed to be a
natural birthright in land, water, air, and minerals
. . . without much thought for the rights of others
and with little thought for tomorrow.

Most people seem to believe that new resources will be
found and corrective and recycling technologies
developed to solve our problems and fill our needs.

With 70,000,000 autos and trucks in the United States,
the environmental burden goes far beyond exploitation
of the land for the materials used in their manufacture.
Autos also affect the quality of life through stress,
usurpation of space, and pollution.

The vital importance of wise decision making--ref lect-
ing an understanding of the effects of technology and
consumerism and the realities of the ecosystem and
environment- -must be recognized and understood by each
one of us. It is the consequences of actions, based
on individual decisions on everyday matters, which
collectively become national problems ... or answers.

For example, when we purchase a detergent we should
stop to consider its phosphate content. Detergents
with high phosphate content overfertilize waters and
contribute to the early death of ponds and lakes.

When we plan to drive our car, we might stop and
consider more ecologically desirable alternatives.

We know that automobiles pollute the air and use
oxygen. On the other hand, walking or bike riding
may be more healthful, and mass transportation may
be the best way to go to work in the inner city.

The problem is our present way of life. While
technology has made life easier for us in many ways,
it has also vastly altered the environment. Not only
is quality of life reduced, but the very web of life
is jeopardized. A new life style is called for,
based on the requirements of living within our
environment. We must develop enlightened ways of
living in harmony with nature and our world. Finding
the way is not merely the Government^ responsibility.

It is not only our neighbor^ attitude and manner of
living which needs alteration, it is our own.

One way to begin this new way of thinking and of
living is through environmental education.

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ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION DEFINED

Today, man has the scientific and technological "know-
how" to solve most if not all environmental problems.
But decisions regarding man's use of his environment
are seldom based on purely scientific knowledge.
Virtually all human decisions arc based on custom,
oversight, economic feasibility, political expediency,
social desirability, or religious belief. It lias now
become impossible to make wise decisions about the
environment without an understanding of economics,
history, political science, sociology, psychology, and
the humanities, as well as the hard sciences. This
calls for a new educational approach, environmental
education, and this in turn needs to be defined.

The Environmental Education Act of 1970, landmark
legislation which reflects a national commitment to
the search for enlightened life styles, has provided
its own definition of environmental education. The
language of the Senate report explaining the Act
follows :

Environmental education is an integrated process
which deals with man's interrelationship with
his natural and man-rade surroundings, including
the relation of population growth, pollution,
resource allocation and depletion, conservation,
technology, and urban and rural planning to the
total human environment. Environmental education
is a study of the factors influencing ecosystems,
mental and physical growth, living and working
conditions, decaying cities, and population
pressures. Environmental education is intended
to promote among citizens the awareness and
understanding of the environment, our relation-
ship to it, and the concern and responsible
action necessary to assure our survival and to
improve the quality of life.

As stated in the Act, and in Chapter 12 of the report
of the President's Council on Environmental Quality,
environmental education (EE) is a process which will
affect the entire continuum of American education.

It is a design for reform because it will, through
every aspect of formal and nonformal education, improve
philosophies of life and help each citizen to acquire
a new and more viable life style.

This objective was first defined by people in local
communities, and has been given the highest national
priority by the President and by the Congress.

Survival as a culture and even as a species may
depend on environmental education.

AIM OF EE

Environmental education is a life-long process. It is
a way of looking at life, fostering awareness of other
life and of inter-relationships, learning to recognize
the effects (good and bad) we have on physical sur-
roundings, and the responsibilities we must accept for
the mere fact of our presence and of our activities in
our environment. It should enable us to make sound
ecological decisions and foresee their consequences;
to make value judgments, and act accordingly. It is
acceptance of life values and ways of living which
minimize destruction and maximize those relationships
that enhance life. It is learning how to contribute
to the quality of life, and the constructive use,
rather than exploitation, of the environment.

It is important to understand that EE is much more
than a schoolhouse approach to ending the degradation
of man-made surroundings and the pollution and
destruction of the natural world. Environmental
education will not simply provide an understanding of
pollution problems and provide the Nation with skills
to meet or solve those problems. It is not merely a
course in school or a curriculum combining elements
of the natural and physical sciences into a new
department or specialty. Nor is it just another name
for outdoor education, resource management, or
conservation education.

Environmental education provides alternate ways of
thinking--a synthesis--which colors and affects the
humanities, languages, social sciences, history,
economics, and religion as dramatically as it does
the natural sciences. It will give an ecological
perspective for every aspect of learning.

EE VALUES AND PRINCIPLES

If environmental education is to be successful, the
philosophies developed and the life styles encouraged
must be predicated on values that are personally
appealing and acceptable because they are themselves
satisfactory, attractive, pleasant and desirable, and
are harmonious with ecological principles.

Actions consistent with ecological principles include:

# Recognizing and accepting personal responsibility
in decision making and stewardship toward the
environment, and becoming increasingly aware and
concerned about those aspects of ecology which
directly come within the province of each indi-
vidual. (This is in contrast to ”1 have my own
problems” or "Let George do it” or ”I*m just one
person, what can I do?”)

• Living in the environment with minimum disturbances
to the rights and habitats of other living things,
consistent with the health, safety and certain
basic comforts and pleasures of man as the
dominant species. (This is in contrast to the
thoughtless or willful destruction of living
things, without regard for consequences, Although
hunting and fishing may be appropriate as long as
they don*t jeopardize the species.)

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• Using only such resources as are required to
maintain life in a balance of health and produc-
tivity permitting reproduction of the species at
an optimum level, affording ample opportunity for
growth of the mind and spirit, and encouraging
artistic and creative expression. (This is in
contrast to capricious use of resources and
"conspicuous waste" in consumption beyond the
manifest needs of the individual or group.)

• Making use of materials and energy in the most
economic manner, balancing a supposedly desirable
end against other possible ends. (This contrasts
with seeking immediate pleasures rather than doing
without in consideration of other benefits or
long-term advantages. An example is insisting on
quick and speedy "muscle cars.")

These values would also include: health and safety in

a pollution-free environment; privacy and quiet, with
reasonable absence of persistent stress; quick, safe
and pol lution-free travel at moderate cost; good
design in public works, reflecting freedom and open-
ness and other human needs as well as utility and
economy; employment in circumstances of dignity and
with incentives; and reasonably comfortable standards
of living, reflecting rewards for merit. Without
question, many would also insist that living ecolo-
gically would, also insure such values as reverence for
life, peace, freedom from coercion and poverty, freedom
in the expression of opinion and the right to learn,
receiving and giving quality, value and service in
business, dealing fairly and honestly in personal
relationships, ans having governments which are
responsive and responsible to the electorate.

In summary, living consistently with ecological
principles should protect and add to many important
and acceptable human qualities or values.

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PRESERVING FREE CHOICE

All Americans should be given the opportunity through
programs of environmental education to develop ecolo-
gical values that will complement the political, social,
economic, and religious values that have been the basis
for human decision-making processes. Changes in atti-
tudes and behaviour concerning our world and our way
of life must come as expressions of / individual choice,
and hopefully our educational programs will provide
sufficient information to create awareness of a wide
range of environmental ly-desirable options. Of
necessity, these options must be tentative and plural-
istic even after the Nation arrives at a consensus as
to the more desirable environmental/ecological values
and principles.

Even as the American people develop national goals,
objectives and strategies in environmental education
(accepting the need for evolving an enlightened
philosophy of life and new life styles), our political
heritage calls for two major assumptions. They are:

• Educational activity must work within the frame-
work of local democratic government, which has

as its tenet the freedom of individual choice and
respect for the individual person.

• Efforts in environmental education will not be
dogmatic with respect to existing social or
religious values--or coerce behaviour- -but will
offer alternatives. These must be in a context
of balance and perspective which will assist
individuals and groups in better decision making.
Diversity may be preserved within a growing
sense of community.

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STUDENT INVOLVEMENT

For a number of years, progressive teachers and
innovators — and many responsible schools and educ-
ational systems -- have addressed themselves to human
problems in an ecological context. They have advocated
many changes and instituted many of them on a pilot
basis .

First, these innovators have declared it not unreason-
able for the educational community to be held accountable
for their product. They also emphasized hwareness,
concern and involvement with everyday, "down-to-earth"
problems. To be relevant to real-life situations
generally meant that course content and approaches
should be issue oriented. These approaches were
responsive to the needs of the times.

Educators foresaw these needs and called for educational
reform years ago. They did not call forth student
militancy but only hoped to meet the issue of student
frustration before it became urgent. Today, environ-
mental and ecological approaches to domestic and
world problems and to education have offered the
"hope” which psychologists say must exist if energies
are to be directed usefully.

The educational process needs improvement to meet
the needs of youth today. The reason for this is that
thv modem youngster -- physically maturing earlier,
surrounded from birth by a proliferation of fact and
opinion from the mass media, and increasingly aware
of conflicts between an old culture and new values —
is largely excluded from decision making and meaning-
ful participation in our society.

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If educators and schools do not meet today's issues,
then the Nation must look on in dismay as highly
active youth take to the streets in their frustration.
"Confrontation" is a phenomenon which stems directly
from the belief of young people that decisions
affecting their lives and their future are being made
by an establishment out of touch with the realities
of the human ecosystem.

14 -

Young people prefer to respond positively to the all-
encompassing environmental challenge. On Earth Day --
April 22, 1970 — many young Americans demonstrated
their concern with their environment and with society
by a concerted, constructive approach. Through-
speakers, special studies, films, and seminars they
committed themselves as individuals and as a generation
to solve environmental problems and to live ecologi-
cally sound lives.

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15

SOCIAL REALITIES

There are numbers of obstacles to beneficial change in
our culture which are largely political, social, and
economic. Some of these are readily recognized and
identified. They include long-accepted and self-
centered life styles, the weight of crushing poverty,
illness and disability which sap strength and limit
opportunity, stifling living conditions and stress
of the ghettos, ideological wars, and self-perpetuating
power structures.

All these obstacles have been identified as ecological
dislocations and learning to identify them is the first
step in dealing with them.

Some obstacles escape easy identification. An example
of this is organized crime, which exploits human
weaknesses for profit and personal aggrandizement.
Criminal syndicates are power structures which affect
life goals (and jeopardize the lives) of large numbers
of people. This is an ecological situation as critical
as is the existence of a man-eating tiger to the life
of a villager in India.

The inability of American society to deal effectively
with organized crime in this century may be because
the criminal syndicate represents the ultimate
manifestation of competitive enterprise, unfettered
and unmoderated by any social consciousness or
responsibility. This could be a vestige of the era
of "mountain men" and "robber barons." This philos-
ophy is one of personal aggrandizement long featured
in American folk lore and the media.

That a socio-ecological problem of this magnitude can
be dealt with successfully is indicated by the
increasing acceptance of social responsibility by
American big business, and by public insistence on
accountability.

NO "EASY" SOLUTIONS

Recognizing a problem is one thing. Identifying the
elements of the problem, and finding solutions, is a
complex and difficult thing. There is always the
danger that having identified a problem we will
suppose that because we talk about it learnedly we
are solving it.

One example is over-population. The population of the
Nation and of the world increases rapidly because of
one complex factor. All living things produce seed
and offspring far beyond the possibility of the
environment to support, if all live. Man has applied
his talents and energies for millennia to the task
of survival. As a result, more of his young live and
fewer of the mature and aged die. Only now has man
approached the limits of his world-wide environment.

Meanwhile, as the population crisis looms, man has
gained insights as to a first alternative. There is
hope, however, for there is evidence that the
birthrate drops when society as a whole reaches a
standard of living and a cultural level where there
is a consensus as to optimum family size.

While some individuals practice family limitation, there
are others who for religious, cultural or economic
reasons have very large families. The "gulf" in
value judgments between the various groups now seems
to preclude the consensus which leads a culture as a
whole to reduce family size.

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Since ecological problems are complex, the solutions
will be complex and will not be accomplished overnight.
Finding a way of life that leads to harmonious relations
with the environment (and with other men) will, for
most individuals, require major reorientation. This
calls for acceptance of new values, a growing awareness
of inter-relationships and of ecology, and a recognition
of personal responsibility toward all life in individual
decision making.

There is an inevitable inertia which dictates to a
large degree the speed with which change can be effected.
As we are dealing with attitudes and behavior, we are
dependent upon education to help individuals modify
these traits. This requires time.

CHANGE AGENTS

The idea that new legislation, new laws, and tougher
enforcement will solve most problems has weakened many
movements in the past. After the verbal explosion
that initiates and enacts such legislation comes an
inevitable reaction, for there is the feeling that the
battle is won, someone is doing something about the
problem, and we can relax. The political-legislative
route to reform may be flashy and exciting but it can
be only a beginning, unless it is already a response
to broad-based, long-felt needs of society.

Laying a philosophical foundation for the redirection
of society is, however, an important function of
political action. In accomplishing this, the respon-
sibility turns to a number of change agents of which
government is but one.

Environmental education calls for an effort at basic
cultural change which will be intensive for the first
two decades and in the process become an integral part
of all human learning. The responsibilities of EE
will be shared by national. State and local govern-
mental units, but many change agents will be involved
besides the instruments and personalities of government.

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These will include the schools, business, industry
and labor, museums, parks and media, peer groups,
and the family.

These groups will function in response to individual
leadership. The quality of that leadership will be
determined in large measure by the individual’s
environmental literacy. It is the major challenge of
EE to assure each individual of obtaining a high
quality of environmental literacy.

There is no question that an environmental approach
to education is underway throughout the Nation. The
ethical and social foundations of EE have deep roots
in the American identification of our national
character with the wilderness and the frontier.

There is a dualism in America’s attitude toward the
wilderness. The challenge of the American wilderness
stimulated a strong survival instinct in the people
who faced it. For many this became an ”it’s nature
or us” philosophy. And this became in some an ,
attitude of "take yours while the getting is good".
This approach was important to the successful
settlement of the West and survival of the pioneers.
It created few problems as long as numbers were small
and the wilderness relatively extensive.

Poets, writers, art:sts, and naturalists have had an
attachment for the wilderness from earliest days in
America. It is notable that few of these have
attempted to live exclusively in the wilderness.
However, from their artistic expression have come
much of the response of the conservation movement and
"land ethic" which has colored American thinking for
more than a century. It is this group's emotional
or intuitive response to wilderness that today gives
man -- with his burgeoning numbers and dwindling
resources -- the desire and insight to find adaptive
alternatives.

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CONSENSUS IN LEADERSHIP

Almost everyone today gives at least lip service to
concern for environmental issues. Many of the issues
have had extensive reviews in the news media. The
public has become informed and concerned about pollution,
the accumulation of solid wastes, the implications of
the "population explosion," and the economics and
morality of wide use of chemical poisons, herbicides
and defoliants.

The more informed the individual, the more he realizes
that environmental problems are really ecological
problems. He knows that there is a web of life, an
ecological imperative, which man affects with his
activities. He may even speak learnedly at cocktail
parties of the need to restore the "ecological balance."

Few people realize, however, that the issue is far
broader than these statements admit. Further, the
inter-relationships of life are in constant change...
and there is infinite interchange in the effects which
one form of life has on all other forms... and "ecolog-
ical balance" is not the best expression to use in
describing these dynamic processes of life. For the
truth is that man lives in and is part of nature,
subject to all the rules and penalties of living in
nature. He is the maker and recipient of innumerable
changes in the environment and he must learn to live
ecologically if he is to thrive and even to survive.

This is the great issue of the day.

Each of us must realize that individually and collec-
tively we have responsibilities toward the Earth on
which we live and the niche which we occupy. The
living Earth has shaped us and we cannot really "live"
apart from an intimate and daily relationship with our
natural environment.

While some may suppose that we can be healthy in mind
and body in a totally artificial and controlled
environment, like hens in the wire cages of an ’’egg
factory," such a life is unnatural, nonecological and
inhuman. It is not enough to survive, we must preserve
our essential human and natural heritage and develop
the integrity, dignity, and potential of human beings.

This recognition — this philosophy — has increasingly
been emphasized by scientists and educators in the
past decade. One of these is Rene Dubos, head of the
Department of Environmental Bio Medicine at Rockefeller
University.

In the July 24, 1970, issue of LIFE, Dubos wrote:

The problem of the environment involves the
salvation and enhancement of those positive
values which man uses to develop his humanness.

It involves, ultimately, a social organization
in which each person has much freedom in
selecting the stage on which to act his life:
a peaceful village green, the banks of a river,
the exciting plaza in a great city. Survival
is not enough. Seeing the Milky Way, experi-
encing the fragrance of spring and observing
other forms of life continue to play an immense
role in the development of humanness. Man can
use many different aspects of reality to make
his life, not by imposing himself as a con-
queror on nature, but by participating in the
continuous act of creation in which all living
things arc engaged, otherwise, man may be
doomed to survive as something less than human.

The environmental approach to education is growing from
the roots of Aldo Leopold's "Sand County Almanac" of
25 years ago to the vast number of movements and
experiments in EE at the local level in the commu-
nities end schools of the country. These innovative
and pioneering efforts in EE have had a significant
effect on Boards of Education, upon Representatives and
Senators in the Congress of the United States, and upon
the offices, commissions and departments of the
Executive Branch of Government. These have responded
with definitive statements and actions, with the
President taking the lead.

The full implications of environmental education, and
the conclusive commitment of leadership at nearly all
levels in America, may be shown in these words:

Margaret Mead, anthropologist, in testimony before the
House Select Subcommittee on Education considering the
Environmental Education Act of 1970, said:

"I think the best structure is the continuous
participation of children and high school
students and college students, but particularly
school children in every community, because you
have a new crop of them every year, and what
we need to look at now is ways of providing
regenerative cycles for dealing with problems
that are going to be continuous...

"One of our principal problems is to change the
whole climate of feeling so that man ceases to
see himself as against nature, as at war with
nature, or in dominion over nature... and instead
sees himself in nature. "

Gaylord Nelson, Senator from Wisconsin and one of the
several sponsors of the Environmental Education Act
of 1970, said in testimony before the Senate Subcom-
mittee on Education:

"Our goal must be an environment of decency,
quality, and mutual respect for all living
creatures. . .

"It will not, however, be possible to understand
much less develop these broad national environ-
mental policies until the relationship between
man, nature, and the artificial world are
totally reexamined.

"Our attitudes, values, and modes of behavior
need to be modified but that cannot be accom-
plished until we face the new realities of a
society in danger from its own environmental
destruction.

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!

"The educational process is the only way to
develop that understanding and commitment..."

William A. Steiger, Congressman from Wisconsin, on the
r floor of the House in debate on the Environmental

!-,■ Education Act of 1970 said:

i

"...It has become evident that the people of
America do not possess a full understanding of
their responsibilities for the maintenance of
our environment. Because of this fact it is
important to make certain that the Nation's
people be made full aware of their interdepend-
ence with the total environment and that they
gain the knowledge and concern to begin finding
solutions to current ecological imbalances and
to prevent future ones...

"Environmental education will enhance the
quality of our peoples’ lives by helping improve
the environment and brighten their appreciation
of the life support systems which make life
possible . "

President Nixon, in his introductory remarks to the
First Annual Report of the Council on Environmental
Quality , emphasized:

"The newly aroused concern with our natural
environment embraces old and young alike, in
all walks of life. For the young, it lias a
special urgency. They know that it involves
not only our own lives now but the future of
mankind. For their parents, it has a special
poignancy -- because ours is the first generation
to feel the pangs of concern for the environ-
mental legacy we leave to our children.

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M At the heart of this concern for the environment
lies our concern for the human condition: for the

welfare of man himself, now and in the future. As
we look ahead to the end of this new decade of
heightened environmental awareness, therefore, we
should set ourselves a higher goal than merely
remedying the damage wrought in decades past. We
should strive for an environment that not only
sustains life but enriches life, harmonizing the
works of man and nature for the greater good of
all.”

The President of the United States, representing all
the people and having the responsibility for meeting
the needs of the Nation above any special interests,
has clearly and definitively committed the Adminis-
tration to EE. He has put the official seal on a
broadly based and compelling philosophy: If we are

to preserve our heritage, our environment, our Earth,
we must change. We must become aware of our environ-
ment, show concern for our effect on the ecosystem,
and be committed to making decisions which reflect
positively our awareness and concern.

There is no question that man must learn to live
ecologically responsible lives. There is no alter-
native. We have no easy out through politics. We
cannot protect our environment through legal means
alone. It is not even a question of first trying
educational means to persuade people to live re-
sponsible lives. EE must succeed, for education has
always been and must always be the instrument of
constructive, evolutionary change in a free society.

A critical aspect of the American system is that power
is widely dispersed. Where power and authority to act
may be found in large numbers of individuals, respon-
sibility is also broadly based. Each person who is
able to take action which affects our environment --
and that includes everyone, at some level — must
recognize his responsibility to act wisely. Education
in the home, in the school, on the job, and in society
as a whole is the means to accomplish change.

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Education must teach each person that he bears the
responsibility and the burden to live according to
ecological principles.

The nature of our society pre-exists in and is deter-
mined by the means we choose and use to attain goals.
The freedoms, guarantees, and responsibilities which
frame environmental education are not only the
processes of democracy, they reflect the dignity and
value of individual life which is their objective.

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Part II

Approaches To Environmental Education

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himaffamiaaa

THE ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CONTINUUM

Environmental education is that education which devel-
ops in man recognition of his interdependence with
environment and all life, and a recognition of his
responsibility in maintaining the environment in a
manner fit for life and for living.

Why are so many people now concerned with the quality
of the environment? Because education for many decades
has failed to give priority to the study of the
environment in its formal and nonformal* programs.
During the past several years in which there has been
noticeable environmental deterioration, curricula in
every educational category and at every level have
been reorganized, revised, and developed anew. These
curricula have given little or no recognition of the
urgency of environmental problems.

A "conservation ethic"--not to mention an "environ-
mental ethic"--has not yet been accepted by the
average citizen, the industrialist, or even the
educator as a concept of primary importance. Conse-
quently, it has not yet become an essential factor
in shaping national policies or education programs.

ROLE OF EDUCATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT

In pre-industrial times the major role of education
was to pass on the culture that had made the society
cohesive and successful. Change was frowned upon,
tradition held sway. In such societies, formal
education was primarily for the young and for
privileged classes that had time to explore new
directions.

* "Nonformal" is deemed more explicit than the
commonly used adjective "informal."

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In post industrial times, change gained the upperhand
from tradition. New information necessary for success
in society proceeded to accumulate rapidly. Education
became necessary for more and more people. At first
this increased education was based on new factual
material, but as knowledge accumulated it has become
increasingly necessary for the young to acquire the
process of learning rather than transmission of
tradition. Adults now must continually unlearn old
facts, concepts, and skills and replace them with new
ones.

In today’s world, education has become a life-long
process. It proceeds both formally and informally
through schools, private organizations, communications
media, and continuing experiences. No serious or
effective modification or improvement of attitudes and
behavior of man towards his environment can occur with-
out broad educational efforts at all levels of our
society. People need to learn ways to perceive
environmental problems and opportunities, to acquire
the information for forming and evaluating alternative
actions, to develop the cultural skills for living
according to chosen alternatives. All of this demands
a high and continuing educational input. It is the
only effective way to deal with the constant and rapid
change in our current cultural environment.

Educational systems must provide the learner with the
skills of continuous learning, and continuing flow
of information about man and his environment.

EDUCATIONAL EXPECTATIONS

Environmental education should begin with an under-
standing of the basic philosophy of education.

Education is more than picking up a few useful tools
during one’s school years. The social and vocational
skills provided by education are essential. Yet almost
everyone would agree that education is much more.
Education is progression, a growth of mind and spirit.
Education is a process, the making of personal experi-
ence out of information. It is not something imposed
from without. All real education is self-education.

30

The truly educated man perpetuates the childlike wonder
with which he first encountered life. He is excited
by exploration and discovery. He is fascinated with
the difficult and mysterious, and is delighted with
challenge. He matches his capacities with standards of
excellence. He commits himself to quality.

Education is founded upon, deals with, and strengthens
many moral characteristics of man. These include
personal dedication to something of worth, patience in
overcoming adversity and ignorance, courage in facing
the unknown and that which seems insurmountable,
tolerance of others (including their ideas and life
styles), and the humility to admit that after all is
said and done one might be wrong.

Teachers are important, but not essential, in all
aspects of education. Indeed it is often remarked
that the long-term influence of an inspiring teacher
is impossible to measure. On the other hand, teachers
have an alarming and far reaching capacity to s,tifle
everything which we believe constitutes education.

For these reasons, teachers must themselves be well
educated, show concern and even love for their stu-
dents, and relate course material to everyday life
problems. One of the objectives of environmental
education is to increase the number of inspired and
inspiring teachers.

It is to this broad philosophy of education that EE
directs itself, for environmental and ecological
studies concern both a way of learning and a way of
living.

PROGRAMS OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

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Programs of environmental education will involve the
entire American educational system, both formal and
oqnformal. A formal educational system in this
corftext^is one which is targeted on specific student-
teacher relationships, through specific curricula. A
nonformal system is less definitive and structured and
is directed toward the public at large, or particular
segments of the general public.

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The formal education system, fi'om preschool through
cor^nuing education, will directly affect about 50
per ,ent of the American population in this decade.
Initially, the principal effort in environmental
education should be that of developing supplementary
materials that are designed for the traditional
curricula such as English, biology, mathematics* and
history. In addition, the development of new curricula
applicable to nearly all teaching and learning situ-
ations should be initiated. The approach is to
infuse environmental and ecological concepts into all
studies which lend themselves to changing man's life
style to one of harmony with his world.

Another approach for school systems might be that of
developing a special environmental curriculum through
which the traditional subjects would be learned. A
third approach, but less desirable at the primary and
secondary level, would be the creation of a new course
called environmental studies.

The challenge for formal education is the establishment
of curricula with relevant ecological content, pre-
sented in a way to meet the present high motivation of
students. This means that we must take advantage of
all opportunities to relate learning experiences to
actual environmental improvement and problem solving
in the community (frequently referred to as "issue
orientation") .

The school must divorce itself from the traditional
classroom concept and expand its frame of reference to
make full use of all community resources in the
curriculum. Environmental study areas, museums,
libraries, local businesses and industries, and local
government agencies all have a role to play in formal
education.

The school administrators and teachers should
orchestrate these resources into a workable curriculum,
rather than concentrating on classroom materials. To
accomplish this, it is imperative that a close working
relationship (and frequent dialogue) be established
among students, educators, businessmen, union leaders,
and representatives of government at the local. State,
and regional levels.

32 -

This will assist in formulating educational programs
and activities that are relevant to real life issues...
and give students the values* attitudes, and methods
they will need to solve present and future problems
deriving from pollution, increasing population, growing
technology, resource depletion, and other environmental
issues .

Nonformal education will reach important segments of
the general public (and in some cases the entire
population of a locality) with environmental education
programs. This will be a major responsibility of local
and national media, volunteer agencies, business and
industry, and other private organizations.

It is essential that both local and network television,
radio, film studios, newspapers, magazines, and book
publishers contribute increasingly to informing the
public about critical environmental problems and their
possible solutions. In addition, the vast advertising
and promotional resources of business and industry may
be directed toward environmental and ecological issues.

Many private and volunteer organizations look to school
facilities and personnel--as well as to the children,
their parents, youth, and others directly related to
the educational activities of the schools--for full
utilization of the programs and activities these
organizations offer. Such programs presently include
square dances, spring and winter festivals, musical
and dramatic productions, nature hikes and bird walks,
and similar activities. In addition, museums and
libraries frequently arrange for special exhibits,
films, or discussions of interest to general or special
groups .

Increasingly, as part of a comprehensive effort in
environmental education, these voluntary and private
agencies may wish to orient their programs toward EE
objectives and to plan them in cooperation with local
schools and colleges capable of providing assistance
and publicity.

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It would be desirable for a national non-profit organi-
zation to accept as its primary task the creative role
of encouraging, advising, and assisting private organi-
zations and business to orient their considerable
resources in nonformal education, information, promo-
tion and advertising toward Eli objectives.

The emerging role of the local school system as
participants in nonformal education should be empha-
sized. Everyone can recall situations in their
hometowns and communities where administrative staff
and teachers of local schools have contributed their
talents and services, as well as the school facilities,
to worthwhile community projects such as curtailing
drug abuse. A vastly broadened activity of this
nature is called for if all the varied educational
resources of any community are to be coordinated in
a nonformal EE effort.

Nonformal environmental education, sparked by local
schools, may include sponsorship of seminars, brief-
ings for businessmen and community leaders, public
forums and exhibits, informational programs and
contributions to media, operation of centers for
volunteer activities, and development of clearinghouses
for environmental information.

Correlation is the key to full utilization of
community resources, and the local school system may
be the best or only public agency available to carry
out the responsibility.

Training Ptiognamt

The need for trained personnel in all branches of El:
is critical. This includes the training of educational
personnel, environmental management technicians, and
orienting other professions in EE concepts.

Environmental education has emerged as the synthesis of
widely diverse disciplines, for this reason, the
development of oducutional personnel must recognize
the opportunity nnd the unique circumstances surround-
ing the potentials for environmental education.

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The present generation of educators faces a challenge
in environmental education which is typical of this
age. Frequently, students are as concerned, committed,
and knowledgeable as their teachers. Through TV and
other media, they may learn even faster than their
teachers. This calls for a new learning-teaching style,
a more informal instructional setting which is conducive
to problem-solving approaches to learning, and, finally,
extensive cooperation among all staff members of the
school .

Teachers must be aware of environmental and ecological
concepts and issues, and should be given the opportunity
to develop necessary skills through in-service training
programs. They should also be involved directly in the
development of environmental curricula. Teacher train-
ing programs must also be redesigned to prepare new
teachers tor the challenge and responsibility of Eli.

To be effective in this new role the teacher must
render support to and be supported from three areas:

• Administrators and supervisors must be attuned to
the new strategies required in EE. Well prepared
teachers cannot work effectively if the system
does not support them. This calls for a flexi-
bility of response from the system and from
individual administrators.

• The librarian must be prepared to keep the teacher
informed of current, as well as new and develop-
ing resources in EE. This is a necessary link
between the individual school building and the
local, State, and nutional network of dissemination.

• The puraprofession.il can provide valuable support
both as a direct link to the community and as an
informed assistant in a variety of roles within
Eli. Whether these individuals function us assist-
ants in the library, in administration, in resource
centers or in the classroom, they must attain basic
awareness of the broad goals and objectives of El-
and of the significance of their task in the total
program.

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UanpomeA Tsuuiung

The Administration has called for an expenditure of 10
billion dollars for the 1970's in the Nation's battle
against pollution. Most of these funds will go into
construction and other forms of physical capital. If
we are to utilize effectively these new facilities, we
must make the decision now to invest in the training of
people who will not only operate new plants but who
are also capable of working effectively across the
entire field of environmental management.

What is needed are carefully prepared short and long-
range plans that examine the manpower need in qualita-
tive terms, as well as evaluating present and required
sources of supply. There is no single agency with
clear authority for developing environmental manpower
at the Federal level. Perhaps there shouldn't be.

But there is certainly a need for coordination of the
efforts in this critical field. Not to coordinate is
to risk a serious duplication of efforts and resources
and we have too few resources to waste.

Another aspect of the environmental manpower problem
concerns the experience, training, and educational
requirements for employment in this rapidly emerging
career field. Institutions are doing an excellent job
of trai ling young men for productive employment in many
technical fields, but the emphasis is on specific
problem solving and analysis in very narrow areas.

This is precisely what must be avoided in preparing
people for careers that require a broad environmental
perspective. Introducing change in a successful but
specialized system is a difficult but necessary task.

Educators must be prepared to search out and consider
a number of alternative paths for developing this
critical manpower. Therefore, research, evaluation,
and focusing a national spotlight on new, inventive,
and successful programs in the field of environmental
manpower development will be emphasized by concerned
administrators. A leading role is being played by
community colleges in developing training programs of
this type.

Envvionrmnt and tka Vao^^lon^

An EE dimension is also a necessity for professional
education. As the Nation has begun to adopt environ-
mental quality legislation, the legal profession is
now faced with an immediate need for specialized
programs in environmental law in order to cope with
the resulting litigation. Certainly, those in the
medical professions, the engineers, the economists, and
the city planners will all need an understanding of the
ecological principles that interface with their partic-
ular disciplines.

Since most professions have organized themselves into
associations which hold conferences and exchange ideas
in professional journals, the practicing professional
can probably best be reached through his professional
association.

Developing the curriculum base for the education of
undergraduate and graduate degree candidates is,
however, a much longer-range undertaking. Initial
emphasis will be directed toward multidisciplinary
change as well as the evolution of new undergraduate
and graduate programs.

ENVIRONMENTAL ENCOUNTERS

Environmental education is basically encouraging and
eliciting in children and others an awareness of
environmental problems and ecological processes. It
also fosters concern for the environment and for what
is happening, and a growing sense of personal and
group responsibility for the environment and for actions
which affect the environment.

This may be accomplished through a series of environ-
mental encounters, as devised by William B. Stapp of
tiie University of Michigan, to link relevant ecol-
ogical, economic, social, technological, and political
factors. These encounters are meaningful environ-
mental experiences to enhance existing instructional
programs, particularly where ecological significance
needs to be added to traditional subjects.

37

A program of environmental encounters, through both
school and nonformal activities, leads to personal
involvement with environmental problems or situations.
This is the method of learning.

Environmental encounters also encourage respect for
the environment and a personal commitment to improving
quality of life. This may involve behavioral modifi-
cation.

A simple and conventional encounter would be a study
and work trip to a stream or other natural area.
Another, and perhaps more cogent experience in environ-
mental awareness, would involve people with different
social and economic backgrounds.

Students who come from middle-class suburban homes
could work as teaching assistants with younger children
from socially and economically deprived inner city
families. These children are frequently unfamiliar
with ordinary things such as a "bookcase," or concepts
such as a "circle." The students will begin to under-
stand the problem as they develop and apply solutions.

Before the experience, the students will need brief
instructions in technique. After the encounter, the
students may discuss and report on the socio-ecological
implications of the life style encountered.

As may be seen, an encounter is a personal experience
with some aspect of the environment in a situation of
challenge and where some kind of decision must be made.

Young people are learning that the role of citizen
calls for them to make decisions which affect their
environment. They are most likely to make wise deci-
sions in areas in which they have had prior experience
in decision making, not merely knowledge. This
includes voting, buying, resisting exploitative
advertising, proper land use, and asking pertinent
questions (as part of the process of holding businesses
and politicians accountable).

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ENVIRONMENTAL CURRICULA

Entirely new curricula in environmental education need
to be developed for all grade levels. This would
normally be a five-year process, but the need is
immediate. Early attention must therefore be given to
providing teachers with materials which can be inte-
grated into current curricula.

While this immediate need is being met in part,
curriculum development must begin on a conceptual
framework suitable for 20 years or more of environ-
mental education. This work will build upon the
experiences, innovations, and recommendations of many
educators. Neither the Office of Education nor any
single State agency will evolve* such a total program
apart from contributions of many agencies, local
schools, and individuals.

Toward such a synthesis, and illustrative of the
curricula and curriculum materials needed, some
tentative priorities and objectives may be advanced.

Tentative priorities include:

• Provision of materials to be used with existing
curricula for pre-school, elementary, secondary,
community college, and adult education levels.

• Development of materials to be used for nonformal
adult education programs, including those of
educational television.

• Curriculum development for the secondary level,
and then for other levels according to need.

• Curriculum development for teacher training,
including inservice training.

39

Tentative objectives may be considered for each of

five educational levels, as follows:

• Preschool and elementary. At this age level,
emphasis should be given to increasing the child 1 s
perceptual level through appreciation of space
and form, the more evident relationships between
man and nature, and a general appreciation of
nature .

• Secondary. A more sophisticated understanding of
ecological systems may be emphasized at this level,
especially the relationship of man to his total
environment. The student should also develop an
increased awareness of the social, political, and
economic causes of environmental problems. He
will also develop at this age an understanding

of the various options for remedying problems,
and the implications of these options for man.

a Undergraduate. Through multidisciplinary, problem-
solving courses, college students should be able
to relate the scientific, political, social, and
economic aspects of environmental problems and to
make value judgments leading to sound decisions.
This will include a special emphasis on environ-
mental/ecological concerns as they relate to
traditional courses and disciplines such as
history and literature.

• Graduate. Professional training through specific
environmental/ecological courses, training in
environmental quality control, and orientation

to environmental/ecological concerns for pro-
fessional students in medicine, law, public
administration , etc .

• Adult education. Providing supplementary and
refresher course in environmental and ecological
subjects, relating everyday-life situations to
behavioral problems and decision making which
affect the environment.

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ADMINISTRATIVE RESPONSE TO EE

Educators need to assess the resources available and
to set goals in environmental education. Judging from
current public interest, there will be a popular
response to EE. Administrators may assume that they
will receive support from the public in efforts to tie
into national programs in environmental education.

To take full advantage of the unique opportunity
offered by this general interest and support, it is
essential that administrators begin by identifying the
few who understand this complex subject and .recruit
them to assist others to comprehend the problems and
the opportunities. Those who best understand the
problems and opportunities are distributed throughout
the country in elementary and secondary school systems,
on college or university facilties, in foundations,
in business and labor, and in numerous voluntary
organizations. Therefore, educators should be encour-
aged to emphasize:

• Assessment of local education resources in and out
of the school system.

• Development of community/State/regional plans
which will reflect the major needs of the regions.

To assist planning at the local level, the Office of
Education recommends that early consideration be given
to:

c Elementary and secondary education: supplementary

materials, inservice teacher training curriculum
development and demonstration projects.

• Preschool, middle school, and adult education:
supplementary materials and teacher training.

• Public awareness (becoming more observant and
sensitive to ecological problems, partly through
reading, listening, and reviewing of media
materials on the environment), especially for 14
and above.

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• Environmental manpower development (vocational
and technical) at institutions of higher education
awarding two-year degrees. Basic environmental
education courses for college freshmen and
sophomores .

• Introduction of environmental/ecological concepts
to professionals (lawyers, engineers, city plan-
ners, etc.) who will need to relate to these ideas
in continuing educational programs.

Additional areas of concern are in the development of
educational personnel to reach professionals in need
of environmental/ecological orientation; to develop an
environmental/ecological consciousness in undergraduate
and graduate students of the various professions; to
assist in curriculum development and demonstration
projects at the preschool, middle school, and adult
level; to conduct programs of environmental awareness
for preschool and elementary children; and to carry
out retraining programs for environmental manpower
technicians.

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ROLE OF STATE AND FEDERAL AGENCIES

The techniques and curricula of environmental education
cannot and should not come full blown from an agency of
the Federal Government . The need for environmental
education to prepare a citizenry willing and capable of
protecting and preserving the environment has but
recently been recognized in official actions and
legislation at the national level. Indeed, environ-
mental education has only come to the attention of a
substantial part of the educational community in the
past year. Much remains to be determined in both
policy and techniques.

At the same time, in many local communities and in
colleges and universities, important progress has been
made in initiating and developing concepts of EE.

Many of the most highly innovative projects at the
local level deserve being called to the attention of
educators in other parts of the country. The identi-
fication and spotlighting of many of these special
projects, to serve as models for national consider-
ation, sets the stage for a major role for Federal
assistance in the years ahead. This approach also
encourages greater participation at the local level in
the vital creative and developmental aspects of environ-
mental education.

However, if individual communities are to achieve the
recognition they deserve at the State and Federal
level, it is essential to provide mechanisms that
reflect their interests, needs, and resources.
Recognizing this, the Office of Education has
suggested that each State develop its own State
commitment to environmental education.

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THE STATE COMMITMENT TO EE

Increasing the level of participation at the local
level achieves two specific objectives. It emphasizes
the need to develop environmental education that is
relevant to the particular needs of the community,
and- -at the same time--it carries out the mandate of
the President and Congress to decentralize governmental
structure (while giving coherence to the great variety
of programs of the several Federal agencies now
involved in environmental education) . The State
commitment may, as a beginning:

• Provide comprehensive State recognition and
support for local models by clearly defining the
support and coordination activities that can be
provided them by State, national, and other
organizations .

• Develop carefully defined priorities within the
State for local. State, and Federal funding.

t Develop programs within the State to increase

environmental awareness and disseminate information
developed by other school systems.

• Coordinate all governmental and private environ-
ment activities, such as volunteer youth projects,
with formal and nonformal environmental education
activities of school and colleges.

SCHOOL SYSTEMS

Each school system within a State may originate action-
oriented environmental education curricula that will
involve the entire range of community resources (the
school system itself, local government, community
organizations, and business and industry) and, where
feasible, such area resources as State and National
Parks, reclaimed open space in urban areas, and
community colleges and universities.

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A number of school systems within a State where there
are promising programs may be designated within the
State commitment as demonstration projects to serve as
models .

Each school system may want to coordinate its activities
with local or area plans for environmental action and
manpower training, in orde'i* to benefit from resources
which may be identified in any State planning for
curriculum development activities and teacher - training.

ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIONS

Programs of environmental action may be developed at
the local level by community organizations, local
governments "and other appropriate organizations.
Working together in a Community Environmental Educa-
tional Center, many individuals may be motivated,
trained, and involved. Ideally, these activities
would be coordinated with educational programs. For
instance, an environmental action program to measure
the pollution levels of a local river system could be
coordinated by a State agency, with data collection
by high schdol students as part of their curriculum
and by volunteers from community organizations, and
with data analysis by the students and faculty of a
rearby community college as part of a manpower train-
ing program for environmental technicians.

MULTIPLE FUNDING

Environmental education programs should be funded from
a variety of Federal, State, local, and private sources.
State and local planning agencies should take into
consideration all of the sources of funds and make use
of those best suited for each project.

An important principle of planning should be the use
of matching funds. Any organization, private or public,
which seeks funds should demonstrate the ability to
provide resources of its own in talent, time, and money.

0

ERIC

- 45

Requested funds should multiply the capabilities of an
existing effort. Funds should not, ordinarily, be
made available for the development of an idea which
has not matured to the point that personnel, materials,
and objectives are clearly foreseen.

NATIONAL COORDINATION

It is necessary to create programs and working relation-
ships between established Government agencies for the
purpose of more effectively utilizing existing skills
and minimizing duplication of effort. Throughout the
Federal Government there is a vast wealth of well
trained and experienced individuals with skills directly
relevant to environmental education.

The development of a national program in environmental
education will begin with the collection and analysis of
State and local programs and plans, the coordination of
effort and resources in Federal agencies, and research
and innovative programming by a core staff in Washington.
The process will involve extensive reliance on the
Regional Commissioners of the Office of Education, to
insure full use of the ideas and resources at all levels
of educational efforts in the Nation.

ERIC

46

Looking To The Future

A NATIONAL COMMITMENT TO ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION

Beginning with the recognition by many individuals that
a new attitude toward the environment- -one of awareness
and concern-- is necessary to preserve the environment,
we now have a national commitment to face and resolve
environmental problems through educational means.

Individual concern and action is required in a demo-
cratic society special interests (business,

labor, universities) will act responsibly and be^o/te
the Government will set guidelines or impose legal
sanctions. Such a consensus, elicited through the
educational process, is not only necessary, it provides
the knowledge and the way to accomplish the objectives
of environmental improvement.

As individuals reorient their lives to ecologically
consistent styles, and groups and communities work
through all social and political processes to redirect
formal and nonformal education toward environmental
and ecological goals, we have a national movement or
commitment towards change.

The President of the United States has authority to
pull together a wide range of Federal programs to give
a truly coordinated and national thrust to EE. The
Office of Education has been designated by the Environ-
mental Education Act as the agency to plan and
recommend such overall educational programs.

- 49 -

CITIZEN OF THE FUTURE

Man, having spent eons in the Stone Age learning to
live with his environment and being responsive to it,
has subsequently spent a few thousand years attempting
to live apart from his natural environment- -to control
it for his own purposes--and has suffered many ecol-
ogical dislocations as a result. Now, entering the
age of Technological Man, he has faced up to the
decision of either further separating himself from
nature and from his environment (thereby dehumanizing
himself) or of recognizing his dual nature and learning
to live within his environment (protecting and restor-
ing his environment, rather than debasing it, through
the great powers of technology).

The same skills used by man in coordinating his know-
ledge and abilities to put a man on the moon may now
be used to restore the environment and to provide for
a satisfying life for great numbers of people without
futher jeopardizing the biosphere of Earth.

The citizen of the future will be well aware of
ecological processes, not merely as to nature as he
has conceived it in the past but also with respect to
man-made environments.

Environmental education enables man to retain his
place as the dominant species, but it will also help
him to find his place as part of a larger entity, the
living Earth. Man will be highly educated in the best
sense, rounded and whole, for his very life and life
styles will be immensely enriched by environmental
education.